If the ego fails to balance the id and the superego this can lead to conflict and may result in a psychological disorder. If the id is not balanced by the ego and it becomes dominate this can lead to destructive tendencies and adverse pleasurable behaviour. However, if the superego becomes dominate an individual may be unable to experience any form of pleasurable gratification.
Freud believed that because we are born with the id and the ego and superego is something we develop in early childhood, then conflicts are likely to arise whilst the ego and superego are still underdeveloped. This made Freud focus on early years as the source of adult disorders. However, this makes Freud’s approach deterministic as it overemphasises childhood experiences in relation to an adults psychological disorder.
It should also be said that Freud’s theory of the id and the defence mechanism cannot be proved. This does not mean that it is wrong but it does leave room for speculation and differing opinions.
Freud saw that anxiety in childhood is a result of the ego not being able to cope with the id’s demands and the rules of the superego. In order to protect the intra-psychic the ego defence mechanisms help to balance the id and the superego. It could do this through repression this when an individual represses conflict into the unconscious. Nevertheless, the unconscious may reveal its self to conscious via phobias.
The second part of Freud’s psychodynamic approach is the psychosexual stages of development. This model suggests that a child goes through series of stages where the id looks for pleasure in different bodily areas. If child is deprived or over gratified at a particular stage then they may become fixated and develop abnormal behaviour during adulthood. These stages are: the oral, anal, phallic and latency period. For example if a child is deprived of or over gratified in the oral stage then a fixation of smoking may be used by an adult to satisfy there pleasure. As an infant would be completely dependent at this stage, the fixated adult may show overdependence in relationships.
This approach focuses far to much on the sexual factor of development it makes little suggestion that social factors may also be involved in a child’s development.
This can be treated through free association this is when the client is asked to talk about anything that comes into there mind. This will then hopefully access the unconscious and conflict may be revealed. A second treatment is dream analysis this is when a client is asked to talk about their dreams in hope that this will reveal repressed ideas.
However, these treatments are unfalsifiable as it is not possible to prove them right or wrong. This treatment is also rather unethical as talking about repressed content may bring further distress to the client.